The Real Taggarts: Glasgow's Greatest Crimebusters by Andrew Ralston

Author:Andrew Ralston [Ralston, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785301346
Amazon: 1785301349
Publisher: Black & White Publishing
Published: 2017-09-25T18:30:00+00:00

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Murder hunts make the biggest headlines, and reporters relished stories that allowed them to produce eye-catching front pages like ‘Killer Arrested in Midnight Swoop’. But CID work covered many other aspects of criminal activity as well.

Payroll robberies were an almost weekly occurrence in these days. Robbers would study the regular movements of couriers and work out the right moment to strike. In March 1957, two men assaulted a cashier of the Kelvin Construction Company as he left bank premises at the Round Toll, escaping with the £1,000 in cash. In September, daring raiders tunnelled through a brick wall and concrete roof to reach the strongroom of a Dennistoun bakery, making off with £7,000. A far more low-key, but equally successful raid took place in April of the following year when Colquhoun’s deputy Alex Brown led the search for a nondescript individual who walked into a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Royal Exchange Square, leant across the counter, helped himself to £1,000 in £5 notes and walked out before the theft had been noticed. In many cases, the proceeds of these robberies were never recovered.

Then there were the times when a crime had been investigated and the culprit tried, convicted and imprisoned – only for the prisoner to escape. It used to happen with monotonous frequency with the famous safe blower Johnny Ramensky, who found his way out of Peterhead Prison on no fewer than three different occasions in 1958. Colquhoun was involved in a more unusual incident in August of the previous year when two prisoners escaped through the window of a prison bus taking them to Barlinnie. One was found hiding under the floorboards of a house and CID men took no chances when he appeared at the Sheriff Court next time – they took up positions all-round the entrances. The second prisoner, however, had a flair for publicity. Safe blower Daniel Hynds wrote a letter to the police, announcing that he would give them another opportunity to (as he put it) ‘illegally arrest and wrongfully imprison him’ by turning up at the Sheriff Court on a Monday morning at 11.30 a.m. Crowds lined the street to see what would happen and CID men nervously patrolled the area as the time drew near. It wasn’t until about 11.50 a.m. that he duly arrived in a taxi, handed the cabbie a generous tip and gave himself up to a very relieved Colquhoun and Brown who were there personally to receive him.

Colquhoun also took charge of the investigation into another attempt at a dramatic gesture. This time, it seriously backfired on the perpetrator who, as a result of a grudge against the owner, had decided to cause an explosion at a fish and chip shop in Castle Street. Screaming women ran out into the road as the bomb shattered the window. Unfortunately, the bomber had still been holding the stick of gelignite when it went off, as a result of which he suffered devastating injuries, losing an eye and both his hands.

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